VCE Global empires 2016–2020
ADVICE FOR TEACHERS
Units 1 and 2
Authorised and published by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority
Level 1, 2 Lonsdale Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
ISBN: 978-1-922082-99-2
© Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2015
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VCE Global empires 2016–2020
Units 1 and 2
ADVICE FOR TEACHERS
Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1
Administration .............................................................................................................................. 1
Curriculum..................................................................................................................................... 1
Developing a course ................................................................................................................... 1
Historical thinking ........................................................................................................................ 1
Employability skills ...................................................................................................................... 6
Resources ................................................................................................................................... 6
Assessment................................................................................................................................... 6
Scope of tasks ............................................................................................................................ 8
Authentication ............................................................................................................................... 9
Learning activities ...................................................................................................................... 10
Unit 1: The making of empires 1400–1775 ................................................................................ 10
Unit 2: Empires at work 1400–1775 .......................................................................................... 12
Appendix 1: Employability skills ............................................................................................... 14
Appendix 2: Example of a weekly course outline ..................................................................... 15
VCE Global empires 2016–2020
ADVICE FOR TEACHERS
Units 1 and 2
Introduction
The VCE Global empires Advice for teachers 2016–2020 provides curriculum and
assessment advice for Units 1 and 2. It contains advice for developing a course with
examples of teaching and learning activities and resources for each unit.
The course developed and delivered to students must be in accordance with the VCE
History Study Design 2016–2020.
Administration
Advice on matters related to the administration of Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE)
assessment is published annually in the VCE and VCAL Administrative Handbook. Updates
to matters related to the administration of VCE assessment are published in the VCAA
Bulletin.
Curriculum
Developing a course
A course outlines the nature and sequence of teaching and learning necessary for students
to demonstrate achievement of the set of outcomes for a unit. The areas of study describe
the learning context and the knowledge and skills required for the demonstration of each
outcome.
Teachers must develop courses that include appropriate learning activities to enable
students to develop the knowledge and skills identified in the outcomes in each unit.
All units in VCE History are constructed on the basis of 50 hours class contact time.
Example weekly course outlines are provided in Appendix 2. They are not intended as
prescriptions.
Historical thinking
Specific historical thinking concepts that underpin the treatment of key knowledge and skills
are outlined in the Characteristics of the study on page 10 of the VCE History Study Design.
Teachers are advised to explicitly teach the skills that characterise historical thinking. These
include: ask historical questions, establish historical significance, use sources as evidence,
identify continuity and change, analyse cause and consequence, explore historical
perspectives, examine ethical dimensions of history and construct historical arguments.
These skills should shape the teaching program and assessment and should not be taught
in isolation. They should inform students’ historical inquiry. A single assessment should
provide the opportunity for students to demonstrate understanding and application of more
than one skill.
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ADVICE FOR TEACHERS
Ask historical questions
At the core of historical inquiry is the ability to ask questions about the past. These should be
drawn from the key concepts relating to the knowledge and skills that underpin the outcome
statements. Teachers are advised to encourage students to examine the questions framing
each area of study by asking: What type of question is it? What type of thinking is involved in
this question? What is this question asking you to think about? What focus questions do you
need to ask to help explain, analyse and evaluate key knowledge? What questions do you
need to ask when exploring the outcome?
A good historical question could include the following components:
Type of thinking
Type of question
Historical thinking concepts
Key knowledge
Identify
Describe
Explain
Analyse
Evaluate
Who... ?
What... ?
When...?
Where... ?
How... ?
Why... ?
Significance
Evidence
Continuity and
change
Cause and
consequence
Perspectives
Ethical dimensions
Historical arguments
Use key knowledge from the
Study Design when
contextualising a question.
Historical questions could include: What caused the expansion of New Kingdom Egypt?
What were the perspectives of the coloniser and the indigenous peoples in North America?
Who significantly contributed to change during the Enlightenment? What were the
consequences of post-World War One reparations for Germany? How did the Bauhaus
movement influence cultural change? What were the consequences of the Boston
Massacre? Why did Mao Zedong introduce the Great Leap Forward? How did the anti-war
movement change attitudes to international involvement in the Vietnam War? Who
significantly contributed to changing attitudes towards Australian immigration policy? How
did differing conceptions of identity within American settler societies affect their actions and
choices during the American War of Independence?
Establish historical significance
Ascribing historical significance involves applying evaluative judgments about the past. To
establish the historical significance of an event, an idea, an individual or a group, students
should use questions or criteria to construct an evidence-based historical argument. When
making an evaluative judgment, students could ask questions such as:
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How important was it to people who lived at that time?
How many people were affected?
To what extent were people’s lives changed?
What does it reveal about the period?
How long lasting were the consequences?
Can the consequences still be felt today?
What is its legacy?
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Establishing historical significance often requires the application of other historical thinking
skills. For example, the question: What were the most significant causes of the American
Revolution? requires students to identify and analyse multiple causes, organise them into
the conditional factors (social, cultural, historical, economic, environmental, political causes),
use questions or criteria to judge, and draw on multiple sources of evidence to construct
their historical arguments, establishing the most significant. This is an example of using
multiple historical skills to engage students’ historical thinking.
Use sources as evidence
Developing historical thinking requires students to apply the historian’s method of
interrogating and corroborating sources so that they can be used as evidence when
constructing historical inquiry.
Primary sources are the building blocks of historical thinking and are fundamental to
students’ understanding and interpretation of the past. They are created at the time of the
event or shortly afterwards and may be visual, written, audio, audiovisual and artefacts.
Secondary sources, such as textbooks or historical interpretations made by historians or
commentators, often draw on primary sources to present an argument or interpretation of the
past. Students should be encouraged to find, collect, select and evaluate the significance of
sources to illuminate the historical questions they ask.
Just as they ask historical questions, students should ask questions of sources, such as:
What type of source is it? Who wrote or created it? When and where and who was the
intended audience? This can be followed by questions that contextualise the source in a
time and place: When and where was it written? What was happening at the time of
creation? What events are described in the source? Who is represented? How might the
events or conditions at the time in which the document was created affect its content?
Teachers are advised to teach students to read sources not only as a means of finding
information, or ‘proof’ or evidence for an argument, but also to investigate the language and
meaning in the context in which they were created.
Students should also read sources closely, asking questions about literal and symbolic
elements, and considering questions such as: What claims does the author make? and How
does the author use language, words, symbols, gestures, colours to persuade the audience?
Students can then pose questions about the purpose, accuracy and reliability of sources:
What is the author’s perspective or intention? What claims is the author making? Why did
they create it? Can the source be corroborated by other sources? What do other sources
say? Do they agree or contradict this source? Is it an accurate representation? Is it a reliable
source? Why or why not? Corroborating sources is an important skill for developing historical
thinking. It is advised that students use multiple sources when drawing on key knowledge or
constructing arguments; for example, an assessment task could include a primary visual,
primary written, and two contrasting historical interpretations.
Identify continuity and change
Developing students’ ability to make judgments and construct arguments about the past
requires developing the ability to identify when change occurred or when things continued
unchanged, as well as causes of change. Students’ ability to make sense of the past
requires discerning patterns, such as the ability to place events in chronological order and to
understand the sequence and order of events as a process of change. Students can link
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causation and turning points to the moments of change in direction, change in pace and
depth of change.
To identify and then construct arguments about continuity and change, students should
understand the key knowledge, events, ideas, individuals, movements and turning points.
The use of narratives and timelines as a starting point helps support students’ understanding
of the sequence of events. When exploring, for example, how the storming of the Bastille
changed the political conditions in France, students could discuss questions such as: How
would you describe the changes? How did X event change Y? What changed most? Least?
Why did some things change while others stayed the same? Did the changes improve things
or did they make things worse? What do historians X and Y identify as the most significant
change? Turning points are a useful way of identifying change; for example, students should
think about an event such as the October Revolution 1917 as a turning point. Students
should be able to identify the type of change and whether, for example, it was social,
cultural, economic, environmental, political, and/or technological.
When evaluating the impacts of change, students should think about: What was the direction
of change (progress, decline, erosion of conditions)? What was the quality of change, were
things better or worse? What was the rate or speed of change? What was the impact of
change? Exploring questions like these allows students to understand that continuity and
change are multifaceted and involve ongoing processes that have a variety of patterns and
speeds.
Analyse cause and consequence
Students are required to identify chains of cause and consequence, to identify turning points
and explore how and why things happened in the past. In so doing, they should be able to
identify many different kinds of causes, including social, political, economic, short-term
catalysts and long-term trends, and immediate and underlying causes. They should also be
able to organise causes and consequences using chronology and to examine the role of
individuals and movements in shaping, promoting and resisting change. It is advised that
teachers avoid suggesting an event was inevitable because of a series of causes and that
they encourage reflection on the unpredictability of events by asking 'What if…' questions
that encourage students to develop analytical and evaluative thinking.
Narratives are a good starting point for identifying significant causes. Students should use
timelines to map and organise events, people, ideas, movements and turning points to
identify links between causes and consequences and to distinguish between long-term
(trends) and short-term (triggers) causes of events. Listing causes or consequences and
grouping them according to conditional factors can help support analytical thinking. When
evaluating the most significant cause, it is helpful to ask students to rank causes or
consequences and to use questions (outlined above under ‘Establish historical significance’)
to justify their choice.
Getting students to identify causes or consequences that were intended and unintended can
be useful discussion points. Using graphic organisers such as concept maps, causal spider
webs, fishbone or ripple effect charts are useful in the organisation of thinking. Students
could use a selection of primary sources, organising them in chronological order in relation
to causes and annotating how each piece of evidence triggered the next event or cause.
Students should also use multiple primary sources or historical interpretations as a way of
identifying causation or corroborating consequences. Students’ understanding of causation
allows them to construct evidence-based arguments.
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Explore historical perspectives
Exploring historical perspectives requires students to consider the mindsets of historical
actors and to understand how context shaped the ways they saw and acted in the world. It
involves the identification and description of the viewpoints of witnesses to dramatic events
who experienced the consequences or lived with their changes. It invites students to
consider, for example, what it was like for someone who was a member of the Red Guard
during the Cultural Revolution, or who lived in ancient Egypt, Greece or Rome, or how
ordinary people’s lives were affected by the Enlightenment or Scientific Revolution, or what it
was like to be a slave in the American colonies, or why boys and girls joined the Hitler Youth.
It is advised that in exploring historical perspectives, teachers also explore with students the
risks of imposing contemporary experiences onto historical actors and of making
assumptions that they know how people in the past thought or felt.
Student’s exploration of historical perspectives is grounded in close reading of a range of
historical sources and making inferences about the ideas, values and beliefs of historical
actors, their thoughts and feelings or reasons for action. Using historical sources to make
inferences allows students to value the role of human actions in contributing to historical
causes, the consequences they have for individuals or groups within society and the
changes brought to their everyday lives.
Students should be encouraged to engage with multiple and if possible contradictory
perspectives. People in the past may have seen and interpreted events differently from
different perspectives. Students could also explore the silent voices of the past such as
Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the illiterate, or women, to provide a rich
narrative and inquiry. This allows students to critically challenge or corroborate sources and
to assess their reliability. Constructing arguments about the experiences of those in the past
must be grounded in evidence-based arguments drawn from historical sources.
Examine ethical dimensions of history
As students develop understanding of people in the past, their actions and their intended
and unintended consequences, they may begin to make ethical judgments about the beliefs,
values and attitudes of historical actors. The making of implicit or explicit judgments can be
problematic and teachers are advised to remind students not to impose contemporary moral
standards upon the actions of those in the past, and to understand that it is too simplistic to
label actions as right or wrong or reduce historical individuals to 'goodies' or 'baddies'. Often
people in the past acted according to different moral frameworks and understanding this
context can allow students to make informed judgments. Students who can make informed
ethical judgments of the actions of those in the past can better explain and evaluate the
consequences of those events, how people responded and the changes brought to society.
It is advised that students engage in close reading of sources, narratives and historical
interpretations and ask questions about the implicitly and explicitly expressed beliefs, values
and attitudes of the author and about the audience and purpose of the source. Exploring the
context that informed the actions of people in the past should help students understand the
ethical dimensions of history.
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Construct historical arguments
Developing well-supported arguments is the culmination of historical inquiry. Students’
arguments should be based on the questions asked, the establishment of historical
significance, the use of sources as evidence, identification of continuity and change, the
analysis of cause and consequence, the exploration of historical perspectives and the
examination of ethical dimensions of history. Students should develop their own narratives
and historical interpretations about the past that demonstrate understanding of key
knowledge and key skills of the outcomes. Constructing an argument is a creative process
grounded in and restrained by source-based evidence. It is through this creative and
communicative process that students demonstrate historical understanding.
Employability skills
This study provides students with the opportunity to engage in a range of learning activities.
In addition to demonstrating their understanding and mastery of the content and skills
specific to the study, students may also develop employability skills through their learning
activities.
The nationally agreed employability skills are: Communication; Planning and organising;
Teamwork; Problem solving; Self-management; Initiative and enterprise; Technology; and
Learning.
The table links those facets that may be understood and applied in a school or nonemployment related setting, to the types of assessment commonly undertaken within the
VCE study.
Resources
A list of resources is published online on the VCAA website and is updated annually. The
list includes teaching, learning and assessment resources such as texts, websites
and films and documentaries.
Assessment
Assessment is an integral part of teaching and learning. At the senior secondary level it:
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identifies opportunities for further learning
describes student achievement
articulates and maintains standards
provides the basis for the award of a certificate.
As part of VCE studies, assessment tasks enable the demonstration of the achievement of
an outcome or set of outcomes for satisfactory completion of a unit.
The following are the principles that underpin all VCE assessment practices. These are
extracted from the VCAA Principles and guidelines for the development and review of VCE
Studies published on the VCAA website.
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VCE assessment
will be valid
This means that it will enable judgments to be made about demonstration of the
outcomes and levels of achievement on assessment tasks fairly, in a balanced
way and without adverse effects on the curriculum or for the education system.
The overarching concept of validity is elaborated as follows.
VCE assessment
should be fair and
reasonable
Assessment should be acceptable to stakeholders including students, schools,
government and the community. The system for assessing the progress and
achievement of students must be accessible, effective, equitable, reasonable
and transparent.
The curriculum content to be assessed must be explicitly described to teachers in
each study design and related VCAA documents. Assessment instruments
should not assess learning that is outside the scope of a study design.
Each assessment instrument (for example, examination, assignment, test,
project, practical, oral, performance, portfolio, presentation or observational
schedule) should give students clear instructions. It should be administered
under conditions (degree of supervision, access to resources, notice and
duration) that are substantially the same for all students undertaking that
assessment.
Authentication and school moderation of assessment are to ensure that
assessment results are fair and comparable across the student cohort for that
study.
VCE assessment
should be
equitable
Assessment instruments should neither privilege nor disadvantage certain
groups of students or exclude others on the basis of gender, culture, linguistic
background, physical disability, socioeconomic status and geographical location.
Assessment instruments should be designed so that, under the same or similar
conditions, they provide consistent information about student performance. This
may be the case when, for example, alternatives are offered at the same time for
assessment of an outcome (which could be based on a choice of context) or at a
different time due to a student’s absence.
VCE assessment
will be balanced
The set of assessment instruments used in a VCE study will be designed to
provide a range of opportunities for a student to demonstrate in different contexts
and modes the knowledge, skills, understanding and capacities set out in the
curriculum. This assessment will also provide the opportunity for students to
demonstrate different levels of achievement specified by suitable criteria,
descriptors, rubrics or marking schemes.
Judgment about student level of achievement should be based on the results
from a variety of practical and theoretical situations and contexts relevant to a
study. Students may be required to respond in written, oral, performance,
product, folio, multimedia or other suitable modes as applicable to the distinctive
nature of a study or group of related studies.
VCE assessment
will be efficient
The minimum number of assessments for teachers and assessors to make a
robust judgment about each student’s progress and learning will be set out in the
study design. Each assessment instrument must balance the demands of
precision with those of efficiency. Assessment should not generate workload
and/or stress that unduly diminish the performance of students under fair and
reasonable circumstances.
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Scope of tasks
For all VCE studies assessment tasks must be a part of the regular teaching and learning
program and must not unduly add to the workload associated with that program. They must
be completed mainly in class and within a limited timeframe.
Points to consider in developing an assessment task:
1. List the key knowledge and key skills.
2. Choose the assessment task where there is a range of options listed in the study design.
It is possible for students in the same class to undertake different options; however,
teachers must ensure that the tasks are comparable in scope and demand.
3. Identify the qualities and characteristics that you are looking for in a student response and
design the criteria and a marking scheme
4. Identify the nature and sequence of teaching and learning activities to cover the key
knowledge and key skills outlined in the study design and provide for different learning
styles.
5. Decide the most appropriate time to set the task. This decision is the result of several
considerations including:
 the estimated time it will take to cover the key knowledge and key skills for the
outcome
 the possible need to provide a practice, indicative task
 the likely length of time required for students to complete the task
 when tasks are being conducted in other studies and the workload implications for
students.
Units 1 and 2
The student’s level of achievement in Units 1 and 2 is a matter for school decision.
Assessments of levels of achievement for these units will not be reported to the VCAA.
Schools may choose to report levels of achievement using grades, descriptive statements or
other indicators.
In each VCE study at Units 1 and 2, teachers determine the assessment tasks to be used for
each outcome in accordance with the study design.
Teachers should select a variety of assessment tasks for their program to reflect the key
knowledge and key skills being assessed and to provide for different learning styles. Tasks
do not have to be lengthy to make a decision about student demonstration of achievement of
an outcome.
A number of options are provided in each study design to encourage use of a broad range of
assessment activities. Teachers can exercise great flexibility when devising assessment
tasks at this level, within the parameters of the study design.
Note that more than one assessment task can be used to assess satisfactory completion of
each outcome in the units.
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Authentication
Teachers should have in place strategies for ensuring that work submitted for assessment is
the student’s own. Where aspects of tasks for school-based assessment are completed
outside class time teachers must monitor and record each student’s progress through to
completion. This requires regular sightings of the work by the teacher and the keeping of
records. The teacher may consider it appropriate to ask the student to demonstrate their
understanding of the task at the time of submission of the work.
If any part of the work cannot be authenticated, then the matter should be dealt with as a
breach of rules. To reduce the possibility of authentication problems arising, or being difficult
to resolve, the following strategies are useful:
 Ensure that tasks are kept secure prior to administration, to avoid unauthorised release to
students and compromising the assessment. They should not be sent by mail or
electronically without due care.
 Ensure that a significant amount of classroom time is spent on the task so that the
teacher is familiar with each student’s work and can regularly monitor and discuss
aspects of the work with the student.
 Ensure that students document the specific development stages of work, starting with an
early part of the task such as topic choice, list of resources and/or preliminary research.
 Filing of copies of each student’s work at given stages in its development.
 Regular rotation of topics from year to year to ensure that students are unable to use
student work from the previous year.
 Where there is more than one class of a particular study in the school, the VCAA expects
the school to apply internal moderation/cross-marking procedures to ensure consistency
of assessment between teachers. Teachers are advised to apply the same approach to
authentication and record-keeping, as cross-marking sometimes reveals possible
breaches of authentication. Early liaison on topics, and sharing of draft student work
between teachers, enables earlier identification of possible authentication problems and
the implementation of appropriate action.
 Encourage students to acknowledge tutors, if they have them, and to discuss and show
the work done with tutors. Ideally, liaison between the class teacher and the tutor can
provide the maximum benefit for the student and ensure that the tutor is aware of the
authentication requirements. Similar advice applies if students receive regular help from a
family member.
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Learning activities
Unit 1: The making of empires 1400 –1775
Area of Study 1: Exploration and expansion
Outcome 1:
Examples of learning activities
Explain the reasons for
European voyages of
exploration and analyse
the motivations of new
globally oriented empires.
 create a timeline of significant events in the Venetian and Ottoman Empire’s
and the Ming dynasty’s economic, territorial and political development
 develop an ongoing glossary of the key terms and concepts that underpin
an understanding of empires, including terms like empire, early modern,
hegemony, cultural exchange, imperialism, tribute, conquistador
 map the territorial expansions of each empire; overlay the resources
acquired in ports of exchange and the distribution of commodities
 undertake an inquiry into European exploration which considers
motivations, routes, territorial claims and cultural impacts
 create a timeline of key voyages of exploration by emerging nation-states
 prepare a written response which examines the distinctive features of and
motivations for empire-building of an empire in the fifteenth or sixteenth
century
Detailed example
A HISTORICAL INQUIRY: EUROPEAN EXPLORATION
Choose one of the following:
 Spanish exploration
 Portuguese exploration
 English exploration
 Dutch exploration
Develop and research the nature of exploration including:
 Motivations of explorers, including trade, values, attitudes and beliefs
 Routes of exploration
 The extent of the territory claimed
 Relationships with indigenous peoples
 Cultural exchange resulting from exploration.
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Area of Study 2: Social and cultural change
Outcome 2:
Examples of learning activities
Explain how new ideas and
discoveries challenged old
certainties and strengthened
European empires.
 analyse the impact of new technologies on voyages of exploration
 in a table compare the views of Catholic Church regarding the world and the
‘Divine order of things’ with Copernicus’ discovery of heliocentrism
 research, analyse and record the Reformation ideas which gave rise to
dissent against the authority of the Catholic Church; discuss in class,
including factors such as the establishment of the Inquisition in Spain or
Rome to suppress new ideas and the establishment of the Index of
Prohibited Texts; individually make oral presentation of reports
 write an essay about the Counter-Reformation movement and the
motivations of ‘new’ evangelical Christian movements into New World
territories, for example Jesuit missionaries; Calvinists and Huguenots,
English Puritans
 in groups research mercantilism and analyse charters given by European
monarchs to companies for the purpose of New World trade; each group
presents to class and discusses
 investigate the interpretations of the changing ‘world view’ in the Early
Modern period, such as those of the Enlightenment philosophes Locke,
Rousseau, Voltaire, Mirabeau and Montesquieu, and concepts of ‘social
contract’, religious tolerance, the ‘noble savage’, free will and laissez faire
trade
 in groups, analyse disruptive ideas during the Scientific Revolution or
Protestant Reformation
Detailed example
ANALYSIS OF DISRUPTIVE IDEAS
Students in groups analyse the nature of one or more sources of ‘disruptive ideas’ during the Scientific
Revolution or Protestant Reformation. These could include:
 Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler and/or Newton
 Martin Luther, John Calvin and/or Henry VIII
Students analyse the significance of the ideas in terms of:
 Impact on European society
 Challenges to traditional beliefs
 Changes to daily life
 Impact on the expansion of European empires.
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Unit 2: Empires at work 1400 –1775
Area of Study 1: New colonies, new profits
Outcome 1:
Examples of learning activities
Analyse the methods used by
European powers to establish
colonies and the historical
significance of new global
systems of exchange.
 annotate a map of French and Dutch claims in North America and the
thirteen English colonies in North America
 develop a chart which summarises the colonies of New England, the Middle
Colonies and the South; include motivations for settlement as well as the
charters which established the colonies
 research causes and consequences of conflict involving indigenous peoples
and Europeans
 annotate maps of triangular trade between Europe, Africa and the
Americas, showing how goods and slaves were exchanged
 undertake a historical inquiry into the nature and machinery of the slave
trade
 develop a case study of a slave plantation or plantations in the American
South
Detailed example
HISTORICAL INQUIRY: SLAVERY
Students undertake an inquiry into slavery in the New World.
The focus of the inquiry could include one or more of:
 Justification for enslaving Africans
 The nature of the slave trade in Africa
 The triangular trade
 The ‘Middle Passage’
 British slave-trading companies
 Slave auctions
 Revolts and rebellions
 Plantation life in the American South
Primary sources and historical interpretations should be used to support historical research. A bibliography
should be included in the report.
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Area of Study 2: Challenges of empires
Outcome 2:
Examples of learning activities
Analyse the effectiveness of a
global empire in dealing with
colonial challenges and
assess the empire’s global
standing by 1775.
 undertake a mapping task illustrating the theatres of conflict of the Seven
Years’ War across the globe; map and chart the imperial powers in conflict
and settlements made
 undertake a historical inquiry into the relationships between settlers and
indigenous populations within and beyond the Appalachian Mountains
during and/or after the French and Indian War in North America
 explore the role of indigenous peoples in the French and Indian War
 individually, undertake a primary source analysis of the responses of
American colonists to British actions in tightening control and raising taxes
in the American colonies, or undertake an overview of significant laws
enacted to pay for losses and economic decline following the Seven Years’
War, such as the Quartering Acts (1765) and the Tea Act (1773)
 evaluate the manner in which Imperial powers strengthened their power or
lost power over colonies; using primary source evidence from settlers in
colonies, extract the key ideas of settler resistance to imperial power; this
evaluation could include a comparison of the key differences between
British society and the culture of the settler societies, or the motivations
behind fighting for rights against absolutism and tyranny; refer to Thomas
Paine’s Common Sense (1776) to understand the ‘stirrings’ of freedom
 evaluate the consequence and significance of imperialism in the Early
Modern era
Detailed example
PRIMARY SOURCE ANALYSIS –THE STIRRINGS OF REBELLION
Using primary sources which contain the views of colonists, students explain the principal ideas underlying the
attempt to gain freedom from ‘tyranny’ in the American colonies.
Extracts can include:
1. Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, John Dickinson (1767–1768)
2. The Rights of the Colonists, Samuel Adams (1772)
3. Remonstrance of the Distressed and Bleeding Frontier inhabitants of the Province by Smith and Gibson,
addressed to Pennsylvania Assembly (1764)
4. Common sense, Thomas Paine (1776)
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ADVICE FOR TEACHERS
Appendix 1: Employability skills
Assessment task
Employability skills selected facets
A historical inquiry
Initiative and enterprise (generating a range of options; being creative)
Planning and organising (planning the use of resources including time
management; collecting, analysing and organising information)
Problem solving (developing practical solutions; testing assumptions taking
the context of data and circumstances into account)
Self-management (evaluating and monitoring own performance; taking
responsibility)
Communication (listening and understanding; reading independently; writing
to the needs of the audience; persuading effectively)
An analysis of primary sources
Planning and organising (collecting, analysing and organising information)
Problem solving (testing assumptions taking the context of data and
circumstances into account)
Communication (reading independently; writing to the needs of the audience;
persuading effectively)
An analysis of historical
interpretations
Planning and organising (collecting, analysing and organising information)
Problem solving (testing assumptions taking the context of data and
circumstances into account)
Communication (reading independently; writing to the needs of the audience;
persuading effectively)
Essay
Planning and organising (collecting, analysing and organising information)
Problem solving (testing assumptions taking the context of data and
circumstances into account)
Communication (reading independently; writing to the needs of the audience;
persuading effectively)
The employability skills are derived from the Employability Skills Framework (Employability Skills for the Future, 2002),
developed by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Business Council of Australia, and published
by the (former) Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training.
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Units 1 and 2
ADVICE FOR TEACHERS
Appendix 2: Example of a weekly course
outline
All units in VCE History are constructed on the basis of 50 hours of class contact time.
Consistent with this the following weekly outlines are suggested.
The example weekly course outlines below are provided as guides. They are not intended as
prescriptions. Teachers should use these outlines in conjunction with the outcome
statements and key knowledge and skills in the study design.
Unit 1: The making of empires 1400–1775
Area of Study 1: Exploration and expansion
Weeks 1–2
Geographical limits of Venetian, Ottoman and Ming empires; broad political and economic
structures, trade routes and commodities exchanged by empires (Venice as entrểpot, Ming
and Silk Road, Ottomans and Byzantine exchanges/warfare); cross cultural exchanges
between established empires; economic foundations and financial mechanisms used by
Empires to sustain economies and merchant classes; ports of Nanjing, the Adriatic, Aegean,
Mediterranean and Bosphorus; tributes and duties; living arrangements in cities for
merchants exchanging goods in ports.
Weeks 3–4
Catalysts for European exploration and expansion: Collapse of Venetian economy due to
Fall of Constantinople and expansion of Ottoman Turks; overriding of Silk Road route and
end of Ming Dynasty hegemony; end of Hundred Years’ War; trade routes blocked by
advance of Turks.
Overview of the emergence of nation states such as the Habsburg, Bourbon, Aragon and
Castile dynasties through marriage, war or treaty; key figures of nation-building and their
political, cultural, religious and economic motives.
Weeks 5–6
Routes of exploration undertaken by the Spanish, Dutch and Portuguese to Africa, the
Americas and Asia and the emergence of ideas and concepts of global ‘imperialism’,
conquest and conquistador; the Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors.
Weeks 7–8
Cultural, economic and political impacts in Europe of exploration and discovery of the New
World; the impact of new resources in Europe and indigenous people who returned to
Europe with explorers; the extent of change as reflected in world maps between the fifteenth
and seventeenth centuries.
Area of Study 2: Disruptive ideas
Weeks 9–10
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Units 1 and 2
ADVICE FOR TEACHERS
Overview of the role, authority and power of the Catholic Church in Western Europe prior to
sixteenth century; its worldview and how new intellectual movements changed cultural
attitudes and ideas about the world and human ‘spirit’ in the face of exploration; the Scientific
Revolution: the significance of discoveries and testing of theories through experimentation
and observation; dissemination of ideas and theories; new technologies which enabled or
accompanied the voyages of exploration: caravel ships, loxodrome, astrolabe, map-making,
printing press.
Weeks 11–12
Challenges to the Catholic Church’s power and authority; Erasmus and Luther (religious and
spiritual); Galileo, Kepler and Newton (scientific theories which shattered the ‘Earth-centred’
world-view); overview of Reformation wars in sixteenth century and Counter-Reformation;
proclamation by the Catholic Church that it was ‘Universal’ and hence global; links with
‘expanding’ Christianity into New World territories.
Weeks 13–14
The theory of mercantilism and the role of colonies as providers of raw materials and
markets for manufactured goods; establishment of charters to ‘colonise’ the globe; the aims
of Britain, France and the Netherlands in developing and pursuing these goals and
monopolies; enactment of the Navigation Laws (commenced in 1651) and Charters (royal,
colony and property) for establishing colonies and trading companies (such as East India
Company, Hudson’s Bay Company, Massachusetts Bay Company).
Weeks 15 –16
Enlightenment including liberalism, empiricism, free will, the social contract, science,
scepticism, reason, interrogation of the place of humans in the natural world of the practice
of slavery; the socio-political ideas of the ‘individual’ in relation to the ‘state’ and the concept
of the absolutist monarchy; the 1689 Bill of Rights as an example of emerging conceptions of
freedom of speech, electoral rights and the limits of royal power.
Unit 2: Empires at work 1400 –1775
Note: In Unit 2 students study at least one European colony in the Americas, Africa and/or
the Caribbean. This course outline uses the example of England’s colonisation of the Atlantic
(East) Coast of America from 1609.
Area of Study 1: New colonies, new profits
Weeks 1–2
Chronological overview of settlements and key resources, groups and individuals who
created the thirteen colonies on the Atlantic coast of America; motivations for creating
colonies and the charters which established them; characteristics of the New England
colonies, the Middle Colonies and the Southern Colonies; the significance of mercantilism as
a driver for the establishment of colonies; the role of colonies in relation to the mother
country according to mercantilist economic theory.
Weeks 3–4
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Units 1 and 2
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Relationships between indigenous peoples and French, Dutch and British settlers; French
and Dutch possessions and competition for resources and trade in North America; the
Iroquois Wars (‘Beaver Wars’) 1630s–1660s; the motives of the colonisers, trade with
Europeans and the impacts on other eastern tribes including loss of land; King Philip’s War
(1675–78) – armed conflict between Native American inhabitants of present-day New
England and English colonists allied with other Native American peoples; examples of
relationships between colonists and indigenous people: Plymouth Colony and the first
‘Thanksgiving’ (1621); Anglo–Indian hostilities in Virginia involving Pocahontas, John Smith
and John Rolfe; Quaker William Penn (Pennsylvania) and his treaty with the Delaware
Indians.
Weeks 5–6
Motivations for the transatlantic slave trade; the machinery of the ‘triangular trade’ which saw
goods exported from Europe to Africa in exchange for enslaved Africans, the export of
enslaved Africans to the Americas and the export of products from slave-labour plantations
to Europe; the infamous ‘Middle Passage’ and slave markets in America.
Weeks 7–8
The nature of slave plantations in the American South such as crops grown, experiences of
slaves and families, slave owners, women, families; plantation life in the South; statistics of
the slave trade, laws passed to justify the trade and human property such as Virginia Slave
Code Laws (1702); responses of slaves to slavery such as rebellion, for example the Stono
River Rebellion, and legal appeals; views of individuals and groups about the morality of
slavery, for example petitions in Georgia (1730s) and Pennsylvania and Rhode Island
(1750s), to prohibit the slave trade; arguments about the economic benefits of slavery.
Area of Study 2: Challenges of empires
Weeks 9–10
Interactions and conflicts between colonists and Native Americans: preservation of hunting
and agricultural lands versus the desire for expanded settlements; forced relocation as a
result of European settlement; the impact of European diseases such as measles and
smallpox; the introduction of missions and schools and the loss of indigenous culture;
conflicts with settlers and the loss of traditional territory; cross cultural exchanges between
the English and French with Native American peoples (Huron, Iroquois, Mohawk) and their
economic and social implications.
Weeks 11–12
The extent to which people identified with the mother country or their own colony/the thirteen
colonies; the experiences of people in different regions, for example New England or the
South, and the social and economic reasons for such differences; the extent of British
control of the American colonies such as limits placed on colonial manufacturing and trade
through the Navigation Acts; financial and military challenges in running colonies:
maintaining trade monopolies, exerting economic and political power; the outcomes of the
Seven Years’ War; overview of motivations for expanding west of the Appalachian
Mountains (from 1765); beliefs and attitudes about indigenous peoples and interactions with
them.
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Units 1 and 2
ADVICE FOR TEACHERS
Weeks 13–14
The Seven Years’ War/French and Indian War (1756–63): overview of theatres of war in
Europe and the Americas; the imperial powers involved; religious differences; North
American outcomes for England and France, for example Canadian settlements and the
Quebec Act (1774), and the Proclamation Line (1763); the involvement of Native Americans;
provisions of the Treaty of Paris (1763); outcomes of the war.
Weeks 15–16
British and American responses to the Seven Years’ War: emerging conflict over the
restriction of settlement and trade/taxation/revenue; duties and regulations imposed by
Britain and American responses to these; arguments for and against British control of the
American colonies; evidence of key ideas of the Early Modern period in the American
colonies, such as liberalism, capitalism and challenges to absolutism; for example, Thomas
Jefferson’s challenge to British imperial rule in Summary View of the Rights of British
America (1774).
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